Neville Longbottom: The Boy Who Lived

The Suspect

I cornered Harry in the common room the next day. "You ran out on us at dinner the other day. Why?" Harry shook his head and tried to slip away. I grabbed his arm and shoved him into a chair. He glared at me. "Ok. Fine. You want to know? I think I know what's going on with Pettigrew. Who he's talking to, who he's planning to have killed, yada yada. It's me and you. The tattoo? A dark mark. The debt? My dad played some prank on Snape that nearly killed him. My dad didn't want him to die, so he stopped the prank last minute. My godfather is always complaining about 'and Snivvy thinks we owe him for that.' Snape is a death eater, and is forcing Pettigrew to be one too. But then my godfather made Pettigrew make a blood promise to keep you and me safe. So Pettigrew owes two debts, but he can't keep both. He's choosing the option that only kills you. That way, just you die instead of all three of us." He pushed me aside and ran out. I sat down on the floor. It made sense, but I didn't want it too. I heard the portrait hole open, and Hermione walked in. I keep forgetting that the Fat Lady likes her, and gives her the password. She's practically a honorary Gryffindor. I quickly filled her in, and her face paled. She hugged me, and quietly whispered, "I won't. I won't let him get you." We both knew that she couldn't stop him if You-Know-Who wanted to kill me, but we let her words comfort us for now.

Malfoy has the same reaction when we told him at dinner. But as I looked around, Harry wasn't at dinner, and neither was Ron. I could definitely see Harry skipping dinner, but Ron wouldn't ever, unless it was something really bad. I quickly whispered that I was going to go look for them, then ran out. After searching for almost the whole dinner period, I couldn't find either of them. By the time I reached the third floor, they weren't anywhere. Until I reached a door. I've never seen it before, and I've never heard anyone mention it. It opened easily, and Harry and Ron were in there. They were dueling. I couldn't tell if they were really made at each other, or just practicing, but the focused looks on their faces scared me. I ran in between them, and put a protective shield around myself.  The lowered their wands. "Neville? What are you doing here? How?" Ron was staring at me me curiously. Harry just looked upset. I turned to him. "I'm sorry. The thing we heard yesterday. I have to be prepared to face him, should I need to. My dad told me about this room."  I nodded. He could prepare his magic as much as he wanted, but would he ever be prepared mentally to fight his dad's friend, a man he had known his whole life? Ron stared back at me. He shrugged. He ran out after his friend. I was left in the room along.

When I got back to the common room, it was about midnight. Hermione, Malfoy, and I had been studying for ways we could save my life. Turns out, there was nothing. But before I left the library, Malfoy grabbed my arm. "Hey. I have a plan. Meet me here tomorrow at midnight outside your common room." Harry was asleep on the coach when I got back, and Ron was asleep on the floor. I smiled. Welcome to Gryffindor.

The next day, I didn't see Malfoy in any of the classes I shared with him. He ran into the Great Hall in the middle of dinner. He motioned for me and Hermione to follow him out into the corridor. "Ok, so I have a plan. I need to research it a bit more tonight. Neville, come with me. I need someone to be a lookout." After this, he ran off. We stared after him. "A lookout? What's so bad that he could be researching that he would need a lookout?" I shrugged. I only knew the instructions I got earlier. Meet him at midnight, outside the common room. A hand grabbed my shoulder. Harry. "I'm gonna call my godfather tonight. Ask him about Pettigrew. Maybe I can figure out this Blood Promise thing he roped Wormtail into." He stalked off, with Ron in tail, in the direction of the third floor. I looked sadly at Hermione. She grabbed my hand, and we went off for the Gryffindor common room.

I couldn't even sleep in preparation for tonight, because Harry was screeching about losing his invisibility cloak. Ron followed, assuring him it was probably in the Room of Requirements (the room I found the other day), and they could look tomorrow, it was past curfew. By the time midnight rolled around, Harry has quieted down to just sitting in bed and swearing under his breath. I got up when Harry went to the bathroom, probably to grab some water. His throat was probably dry from complaining. For. Four. Hours. Malfoy was pissed by the time I got there. "I said midnight. It's, oh, 12:30?!" I sighed. "Sorry, but Harry didn't go to sleep. I had to wait for him to go to the bathroom to leave. He wouldn't shut up about his invisibility cloak." Malfoy's face developed a nasty grin. "Oh, this thing, you mean?" He held up the invisibility cloak. I gasped. "I thought we could investigate in the Forbidden Section of the library for clues on how to help save your butt." I nodded and slipped under the cloak. Malfoy pokes my side. "C'mon, I'll return it tomorrow. I had to skip classes to get it. There was always someone in the common room. I couldn't sneak in and get it until dinner." So that's where he was all day. We traipsed off to the library.

After 20 minutes of looking to check the library was truly empty, we headed toward the Forbidden section. All the books were dusty from not being used. After a few minutes of searching, we found a book called "Curses and Other Forbidden Magics". There was a freaky stain on the cover, but we decided not to think about it. When we placed the book on the table, it flipped itself open and started to scream. We jumped back in surprise, but we couldn't figure out how to shut it up. None of the silencing spells we knew worked, and merely closing it didn't help. We did the only thing we could. We ran. We ended up in the Gryffindor common room. "I have to go back. I'm not a Gryffindor, I can't be in here after hours." I shook my head.  "It's too late. Filch will be on the prowl, and you can't keep Harry's cloak overnight. He's going to look for it tomorrow." He shrugged. "Ok, I'll sleep down here under the cloak, and return it later, before you all wake up." I nodded. That sounded good.

When we woke up the common room was magically painted silver and green.

Author's Note-
Hey all! Vote, comment, yada yada, you know the drill. I may have time to update before my school play practice! There's some big drama coming up soon, I'm not sure what chapter though. So prepare yourself (insert evil grin). Bye-o!
~Kat-the-Nerd